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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24924007">Young and Beautiful</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewelofmandalore/pseuds/jewelofmandalore'>jewelofmandalore</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bittersweet moments, F/M, Fluff, Order 66, Songfic, True Love, aged up Ahsoka Tano, rexsoka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:28:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,574</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24924007</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jewelofmandalore/pseuds/jewelofmandalore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful? </p><p>Will you still love me when I got nothing left but my aching soul?</p><p>I know you will.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CT-7567 | Rex &amp; Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>81</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Young and Beautiful</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I’ve been wanting to write a songfic forever and i finally found the perfect song. I’m also super motivated to write atm so expect some more new stuff as well ;)</p><p>Song: Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>I’ve seen the world, done it all.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Rex knows blood and battle and defeat. He knows the sweet release of triumph and victory. A hundred different planets, countless star systems, burnt villages and broken cities. He knows it all.</p><p> </p><p>What he <em>doesn’t</em> know is how to describe the feeling he has in his chest when he thinks of his commander. </p><p> </p><p>An angel made up of sienna skin and cream colored markings. Eyes shining brighter than any star Rex has ever seen with a smile to match. His skin electrifies when they touch, his mind screaming for him to tell her <em>something</em>, <em>anything</em>.</p><p> </p><p>A friendship forged in fire and war, built on trust and reliance. He used to see her as a friend, his closest friend. But now, as he watches her slice through droids like butter, fangs bared and eyes alight with danger, he sees a warrior. <em>His</em> warrior.</p><p> </p><p>She flashes him a grin, bouncing off of a collapsing tank and continues her assault in taking down as many droids as she can before they reach the troops. His heart swells with pride, affection, at her determination.</p><p> </p><p>After the battle ends they regroup together. Leaning on each other's shoulders and gazing up at the millions of stars above. The night brings a cold breeze on the distant planet they currently occupy. She had suggested going to the outskirts of the camp to lay against a gunship, and Rex can feel her warmth radiating through his armor.</p><p> </p><p>He thinks to himself in this movement, there is no greater feeling in the galaxy than being in the presence of Ahsoka Tano.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>All the ways I got to know, your pretty face and electric soul.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He thought it would be the last time he ever saw her, his <em>cyare</em> as she pulls him into a tight embrace in his quarters and tells him she’s left the order.</p><p> </p><p>Tears streaming down her perfect cheeks, eyes losing the luster that he holds so dear in his heart.</p><p> </p><p>She tells him that they can make it work. She’s no longer a Jedi and has no code to abide by.</p><p> </p><p>Somehow that doesn’t make it any better. </p><p> </p><p>He wants her to stay, wants to constantly be around her electric energy and perfect smile. What will the battle field be like if the commander isn’t leading the front? </p><p> </p><p>A gentle kiss against his lips and Rex finds himself never wanting her to walk away. Her delicate hand is warm through his armor and he squeezes it one more time.</p><p> </p><p>“I love you Rex. I’ll see you soon.”</p><p> </p><p>He believes her. He really does.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>(you will)</em>
</p><p> </p><p>They see each other. They meet up in dumpy hotels on the lower levels or in the bars with the lights so dark that you can’t make out anyone occupying them. Rex treasures the stolen moments and the loving nights full of warm embraces. The time is punctuated by long stretches of battle and secret comm calls just so she knows he’s ok. Alive.</p><p> </p><p>It feels nice to belong to someone other than a brother.</p><p> </p><p>She’s soft and supple under his calloused hands and sometimes he’s worried he may break her. Ahsoka always tells him she’s here. Here and with him. Snarling that she’s not <em>fragile</em> as she rides him in hard strokes.</p><p> </p><p>Rex doesn’t think he’ll ever feel for someone the way he feels about Ahsoka.</p><p> </p><p>And Skywalker becomes distant. And brothers start dropping like flies. And all Rex wants to do is crawl into Ahsoka’s arm and never leave. But he powers through, because he is a soldier of the Republic.</p><p> </p><p>And then the order goes out. And Rex commits horrible crimes. Crimes that make him want to swallow his blaster and blow his brains out until they scatter the temple floor like the ones of the Jedi he has just mercilessly killed.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Good soldiers follow orders.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>His hands shake and tremble with shame, his vision blurry with tears. Betrayal. </p><p> </p><p>He betrayed those he was sworn to protect. In turn he was betrayed by those who had made him for a greater purpose.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Ahsoka. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>His mind is able to push away the orders long enough to remember his motivation. His saving grace. He orders his men to patrol the area in the next section over so he can escape, and little by little abandons pieces of his once pristinely blue armor until he’s in nothing but his black skin tight shirt and his black sweatpants and boots. </p><p> </p><p>If anything ever happened, she told him to meet her here. He waits by the door punching in the code she gave him all those months ago. The night is cold and dark, a reflection of his inner mind.</p><p> </p><p>She’s changed ever so slightly in the short time they’ve been apart. Yet she still holds him as he crumbles into her arms and silently sobs into her shirt.</p><p> </p><p>He is half the man he was. A pile of broken pieces. Rex doesn’t expect her to love him any longer, to pretend that he is what he once was.</p><p> </p><p>But she does anyway.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Channeling angels in the new age now.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>They make their way across the galaxy to smaller towns with low profile people. After the first few months Rex begins to heal and for that Ahsoka is greatful. </p><p> </p><p>She would have cared for him as long as it took, but it is comforting to think that he is on the mend. </p><p> </p><p>They make their way in a new world now, the Empire.</p><p> </p><p>It is not uncommon for both of them to awake in the dead of night with raging nightmares of the darkest times during the war. She holds him through his terrors and is eternally grateful when he does the same for her.</p><p> </p><p>Ahsoka doesn’t think she’s ever felt as safe as she does when she’s in Rex’s arms.</p><p> </p><p>Together they scour for the perfect place to settle. To finally breathe. To maybe live the life of normalcy that they have craved since forever.</p><p> </p><p>It’s not awful, but it’s not much, Rex cracks jokes about how it reminds him of the motel rooms they would stay in on Coruscant. </p><p> </p><p>It’s not much, but it’s home.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>He’s my sun, he makes me shine like diamonds.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Within a year, Ahsoka falls in love all over again. With the man she can her lover. She falls in love with the way he holds her hand as they walk down the avenue from their home, or how he carries the groceries home without her asking. </p><p> </p><p>Rex is her sun. In every aspect of life.</p><p> </p><p>For however dark his dark place is, Ahsoka believes her demons are far greater. Without a second thought, she watches as Rex holds her tenderly or makes her her favorite tea. </p><p> </p><p>She is brighter for all the time she spends bathing in his light.</p><p> </p><p>They dance at the cantina in town square and share glasses of Nabooian wine when they decide to splurge on the good stuff. They start a garden in their backyard and Rex learns how to build houses for others in the village.</p><p> </p><p>His blonde hair sparkles in the sunlight and his hazel eyes glow in the evening. </p><p> </p><p>There is nothing more beautiful to Ahsoka than Rex’s smile, true and genuine.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>(you will)</em>
</p><p> </p><p>It’s a tiny little thing. Smaller than Ahsoka had expected it would be. She smiles weakly as she takes notice of Rex's incredulous look. </p><p> </p><p>“What will we call it?”</p><p> </p><p>Ahsoka looks down at the small bundle in her arms. What will they call their son? A name is a sacred thing, in Mandalorian tradition a name is bestowed after they survive their first month. In Togrutan customs, Ahsoka knows that children are given a name derived from their elders.</p><p> </p><p>But their son will survive the upcoming month. And there are no elders to take names from. He is soft and warm in her arms and Ahsoka wishes he would stay this little forever so that she and Rex may protect him. </p><p> </p><p>“Vercopa. It means hope.”</p><p>Rex nods, sweet tears sliding down his cheek and kisses Ahsoka on her forehead.</p><p>Ahsoka knows she is no longer what she was. He lekku hang low to her hips now, and her breast are full with milk for their daughter. Her stomach is a little softer than when she was a commander in a grand army from carrying their children. Warm wrinkles line her cheeks from laughing and smiling so often now.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“Will you still love me even though I’m no longer young and beautiful, Rex?”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A thousand memories flash before his eyes. As if he is reliving his life for her to see. His loving hands cradle hers as their children frolic aimlessly in the field behind their home.</p><p> </p><p>“I fell in love with the kind heart, the sweet soul, the caring eyes. I was enraptured by the sheer determination, the dangerous ferocity, the unbeaten loyalty. I am in love with the warm hands and the gentle eyes. Ahsoka, I am in love with every part of you. Today, tomorrow, always. Every flaw and every strength makes you my whole world. In sickness and in health, we have raised warriors together. You may not be as young as we once were, but you only grow more beautiful.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>you will.</em>
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